SACRAMENTO — California prison officials are moving to erase some of the last vestiges of the prisoners rights movement, laying plans to revoke privileges long cherished by inmates.
The California Department of Corrections is removing weights that many inmates pump to bulk up muscles. And in an even more fundamental step, the department proposes to take away many of the lawbooks that inmates use to challenge their confinement.
The extraordinary moves come as officials issue increasingly strident warnings about overcrowding in California's 33 prisons, and as prisoners and their advocates say the tense atmosphere behind the walls is getting worse.
"We got into the position at one juncture of providing a rather comfortable lifestyle in prison," said Sean Walsh, Gov. Pete Wilson's spokesman. "We should not allow prisoners to ride roughshod over the prisons. They're there to be punished, and hopefully rehabilitated. They're not there to be entertained and catered to."
With Wilson in his final year as governor, the effort to limit inmate privileges is accelerating. And the administration is homing in on some that have been as much a part of prison life as concrete and steel.
Only a month ago, officials began enforcing new grooming standards that require men's hair to be closely cropped, a measure that prompted at least 100 inmates at Folsom Prison to stage a short-lived hunger strike on New Year's Day.
"It's all part of a comprehensive review of prison operations," said Tom Maddock, head of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. "The core reasons are safety, security and taxpayer efficiency."
There's more to come later this year. Among other steps, Maddock said, prison officials plan random drug tests for inmates and will prohibit packages from being sent directly to inmates by family, friends and associates--another step aimed at reducing drug use. Outsiders wanting to send packages would purchase items from Department of Corrections-approved vendors, who would ship items to inmates.
A program is also afoot to require all inmates to wear prison-issue white jumpsuits, instead of the current garb of blue jeans and blue work shirts. Jumpsuits would make it harder for escapees to blend in on the streets, officials say.
Prisoners' rights advocates, inmates and their family members long have criticized the Department of Corrections for what they consider its punitive approach. But lately, correctional officers, while applauding the approaching end of weightlifting, are raising their own questions about some of the changes.
